Abstract
The present study aimed at investigating the status of cheating on exams in the Iranian EFL context. One hundred thirty two
university students were surveyed to this end. They were selected through convenient sampling. The results indicated that
cheating is quite common among the Iranian language students. The most important reasons for this behavior were found to be
“not being ready for the exam”, “difficulty of the exam”, “lack of time to study” and “careless and lenient instructors”.
The study also indicated that the most common methods of cheating are “talking to the adjacent individuals”, “copying from
others’ test papers”, and “using gestures to get the answers from others”. It was also found that the student’s field of study,
academic level, and occupational status had a significant effect on cheating whereas gender and marital status had no effect
in this regard. Furthermore, it became clear that field of study and occupational status had a significant effect on students’
attitude toward cheating whereas gender, academic level and marital status had no effect. Finally, the study indicated that
age significantly correlated with cheating and attitude toward cheating.
university students were surveyed to this end. They were selected through convenient sampling. The results indicated that
cheating is quite common among the Iranian language students. The most important reasons for this behavior were found to be
“not being ready for the exam”, “difficulty of the exam”, “lack of time to study” and “careless and lenient instructors”.
The study also indicated that the most common methods of cheating are “talking to the adjacent individuals”, “copying from
others’ test papers”, and “using gestures to get the answers from others”. It was also found that the student’s field of study,
academic level, and occupational status had a significant effect on cheating whereas gender and marital status had no effect
in this regard. Furthermore, it became clear that field of study and occupational status had a significant effect on students’
attitude toward cheating whereas gender, academic level and marital status had no effect. Finally, the study indicated that
age significantly correlated with cheating and attitude toward cheating.
- Content Type Journal Article
- Pages 1-20
- DOI 10.1007/s10805-012-9156-5
- Authors
- Alireza Ahmadi, Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Shiraz University, 7194684795 Shiraz, Iran
- Journal Journal of Academic Ethics
- Online ISSN 1572-8544
- Print ISSN 1570-1727